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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Timeline


4 Apr 2002 21:32 UTC
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Ancient times The start of the conflict 
Late 19th century-1945 The rise of Zionism 
1947-1964 Creation of Israel, first Arab-Israeli wars 
1967-1994 Wars and peace talks 
1995-2002 More ups and downs 

1000 BC - Hebrews establish an independent kingdom in Palestine. Judaism develops under King David and his successors (1000 BC - 597 BC). 

AD 70 - Jerusalem destroyed by Romans after Jewish revolt. Romans send Jews into exile, or Diaspora, after a second revolt, AD 133-138. 

638 - Muslim Arabs under Caliph Umar conquer Palestine In 691, they build one of Islam's holiest shrines in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock, on a site of the destroyed Hebrew Temple of Solomon. Jews and Muslims dispute the holy site. 

1096-1291 -Western Christians conduct a series of Crusades, killing Jews and Muslims alike. Christians control Jerusalem from 1099 to 1187, when Muslims recapture the city. 

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<i>Conference Hall where the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, 1897</i>
Conference Hall where the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, 1897
1882-1897 - Movement called Zionism is founded. Its main goal is establishing a Jewish state in Palestine. 

1917 - After four centuries of Ottoman rule, Britain gains control of Palestine. British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour endorses an idea of "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." Jewish migration, begun in late 19th century, meets heavy Arab opposition. 

<i>A polish Jew killed by Germans, 1945</i>
A polish Jew killed by Germans, 1945
1933-1945 - Nazis led by Germany's Adolf Hitler carry out the Holocaust, or genocide of about 6 million Jews from countries throughout Europe. 

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1947 - The United Nations divides Palestine, then under British mandate, into Jewish and Arab states. The partition plan gives 56.47 percent of Palestine to the Jewish state and 43.53 percent to the Arab state. It intends Jerusalem to be an international city. Palestinians reject the plan.

1948 - After British withdrawal, the state of Israel is proclaimed on May 14. Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq refuse to accept the new Jewish state and invade Israel. Israel wins the war and seizes territory, taking western Galilee (a broad corridor through central Palestine to Jerusalem), and west Jerusalem. About 700,000 Palestinians flee their homes. Egypt keeps the Gaza Strip, Jordan - East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. 

1956 - Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal. Israel backed by France and Great Britain invades Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, but withdraws under UN pressure. 

<i>Yasser Arafat (photo 1998)</i>
Yasser Arafat (photo 1998)
1964 - Arab governments create the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Yasser Arafat takes PLO leadership five years later. His Al Fatah guerrilla fighters gain notoriety with armed operations against Israel. PLO commits itself to establishment of an independent Palestinian state. 

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1967 - Egypt reoccupies the Gaza Strip and closes the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping. In the Six Day War, Israel retakes Gaza and captures the Sinai from Egypt, seizes the Golan Heights from Syria, and takes the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan. The U.N. says 500,000 Palestinians flee to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. 

1973 - Egypt and Syria attack Israel on October 6, the Jewish high holy day of Yom Kippur. Initial Arab gains are reversed when a cease-fire takes effect October 24. The Yom Kippur war kills about 8,500 Egyptian and Syrian troops, and about 6,000 Israeli soldiers. 

<i>Sadat, Carter and Begin at the Camp David Accords Signing Ceremony, Sept.17, 1978</i>
Sadat, Carter and Begin at the Camp David Accords Signing Ceremony, Sept.17, 1978
1978 - Egyptian and Israeli leaders meet with U.S. President Jimmy Carter to discuss the framework for a Middle East peace agreement. They sign the Camp David accords, named for the U.S. presidential retreat in Maryland where the agreement is shaped. On March 26, 1979, Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat sign a bilateral peace treaty at the White House ending 30 years of war between Israel and Egypt. Israel returns Sinai to Egypt in 1982. In October, 1981, Sadat is assassinated by Islamists who oppose peace with Israel. 

1982 - Israel invades Lebanon to destroy PLO strongholds. After massive Israeli bombing of West Beirut (capital of Lebanon), PLO is expelled from the country. On September 16, Lebanese Christian forces allied with Israel slaughter hundreds of Palestinians in two Beirut refugee camps. Defense Minister Ariel Sharon is accused of failing to prevent the massacre and is forced to resign. Israeli troops eventually pull back from Beirut, but remain in southern Lebanon for nearly another two decades. 

1987 - The Intifada, or mass Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation begins in Gaza and the West Bank. Uprising sparked by Jewish settler's truck striking and killing four Palestinians in Gaza. Six years of violence take about 1,500 Palestinian lives. 

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1993 - Israel and PLO sign a treaty based on secret talks in Oslo. The treaty includes mutual recognition and limited self-rule for Palestinians in Jericho in the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The historic handshake between Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin seals the agreement signed in Washington. Rabin, Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres win the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. In 1994, Israel military forces withdraw from Jericho and Gaza. Arafat becomes head of the new Palestinian National Authority, formed in the autonomous areas.
<i>King Hussein</i>
King Hussein
1994 - On July 25 Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein sign the Washington Declaration ending a 46-year state of war between Israel and Jordan. 
Watch Rabin, King Hussein talk about peace at U.S. Congress July 26, 1994, after signing Washington Declaration (VOA TV)

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<i>Yitzhak Rabin </i>
Yitzhak Rabin 
1995 - Rabin and Peres signed an agreement giving the Palestinian Authority control over six large West Bank towns. On November 4, a Jewish extremist opposed to Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank assassinates Rabin. Shimon Peres becomes Prime Minister. 
Watch Washington reaction to Rabin's assassination (VOA TV)

1996 - Clashes continue between Palestinians and Jewish settlers. Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian Authority. Hardline politician Benjamin Netanyahu defeats Peres in a close race for Prime Minister. PLO formally cancels its call for Israel's destruction. In 1997, under increasing U.S. pressure, Israel hands nearly all of the West Bank city of Hebron to Palestinians. 

<i> Arafat, Netanyahu at Wye River Conference Center, Oct. 22, 1998 </i>
Arafat, Netanyahu at Wye River Conference Center, Oct. 22, 1998 
1998 - Netanyahu and Arafat sign an agreement at Wye Mills, Maryland, outlining further Israelis withdrawals from the West Bank. Israel agrees to pull out of another 13 percent of the West Bank in exchange for new security guarantees. In 1999, Israel begins transferring West Bank land to Palestinian control as part of the Wye memorandum. 
<i>Ehud Barak</i>
Ehud Barak
1999 - Labor Party's Ehud Barak, considered a moderate, elected Israel's Prime Minister. 

2000 - Israeli troops pull out of Lebanon after 22 years of occupation. Final status peace talks between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat at Camp David fail. The status of Jerusalem is the main stumbling block. 

<i>Ariel Sharon</i>
Ariel Sharon
2000 - Right-wing politician Ariel Sharon visits the Jerusalem holy site called the Temple Mount by Jews and the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) by Muslims. The visit sparks a new Palestinian uprising, the "Al-Aqsa intifada."
Watch Sharon visit to Temple Mount September 28, 2000

2001 - Ariel Sharon sweeps to power in Israel's special election for prime minister. Israeli-Palestinian violence continues.

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2002 - Situation worsens in the Middle East. Suicide bombings carried out by militant Palestinian groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - the military wing of Arafat's Fatah movement - kill dozens of Israeli civilians. In retaliation, Israel attacks Palestinian refugee camps to arrest Palestinian militants. More than 1,000 Palestinians and 380 Israelis die during the first 18 months of the Al-Aqsa intifada. 

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